Woogie

while driving home yesterday, my check engine light came on. I came to a stop light to make a left. I started making the left turn when my car felt like it was leap frogging (step on the gas real hard, release, step, release, etc.) so i left off the accelrator and it stopped doing that and i eased on it again and my TRAC OFF light turned on. I tried to turn it off, but it didn't work.

so i went to autozone this afternoon and had them pull out the ODB-II scanner and they gave me a P0446 reading. went to troublecodes.net and found out that the P0446 code was the "EVAP Emission Control System Vent Control Malfunction". can anybody tell me what this means and how much it will cost to repair. Furthermore, would it be safe to drive my car around for another two weeks?

thanks in advance.

lexusk8

Woogie, if I'm not mistaken, that error code indicates a bad charcoal canister (located in the evaporative system of your fuel tank). Check out my thread below which details my experience with that problem a couple years ago:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...rcoal+canister

Woogie

thanks for the response, that post was quite helpful. Time to go looking underneath the couch for 500 dollars worth of change ... lol that's not too bad.

Does anybody know the purpose of the Charcoal canister and would it be safe to drive it around for another week and a half?

lexusk8

The basic function of the charcoal canister is to help store the fuel vapors within the enclosed evaporative system. The canister can often go bad when over-filling your fuel tank, causing all the extra fuel to be dumped into the canister and shortening its life. This seems to be a "common" problem for most Toyota vehicles like the Camry and Corolla, and has even affected some of the Lexus vehicles like the ES.

More info on the evaporative emission control system (PDF document)


Since this is a problem related to your fuel tank system, I advise bringing your car in to a dealership VERY SOON. Not that I believe this is going to happen, but one faulty ignition or spark to the problematic fuel system could prove to be fatal

Woogie

hmm how do i explain this... i was driving this morning, then my CEL went off. then shortly after my TRAC OFF light went off. what's the deal?

lexusk8

I can't mechanically explain it, but it's a safety feature by design of the car, so you can continue to drive until you find a place to get your error codes diagnosed and/or repaired.

sczc400

It is probably NOT your charcoal canister, rather one of the electric valves that control the flow, the most common one to go bad is the one right next to the charcoal canister. You can check it by attaching a ground and power to it and see if it clicks. Then check the others and look at your charcoal canister to see if you see and signs of leakage.

Quincy